Suddenly mentality giants: BVB shows Chelsea what football is all about

In the round of 16 first leg of the Champions League, Borussia Dortmund beat the money-spitting Premier League club Chelsea.

Suddenly mentality giants: BVB shows Chelsea what football is all about

In the round of 16 first leg of the Champions League, Borussia Dortmund beat the money-spitting Premier League club Chelsea. National player Karim Adeyemi scores almost the entire pitch after a run. BVB is suddenly a team and even plays with one more man.

What a run. The fastest player in the Bundesliga didn't look back. After a Chelsea corner, Karim Adeyemi received the ball deep in his own half and ran, always further, more than 60 meters, maybe even 80, first cornering the last player of the London club and then the keeper. The German international pushed in free-standing from an acute angle. The Westfalenstadion escalated, the BVB striker did a somersault and Borussia Dortmund led 1-0 in the 63rd minute of the Champions League round of 16 first leg. It should stay that way.

A good starting position for the second leg in three weeks. BVB plunges the blues, which were refreshed with more than 300 million euros during the winter break, deeper into the crisis and now has to hope that little will change by March 7 (9 p.m. / Amazon Prime Video and in the ntv.de live ticker). In Dortmund's Westfalenstadion, a unit defeated a random collection of stars.

The 1:0 was a scene with symbolic power. Here the young star who had already been written off, who had somehow jumped on the World Cup train and there Argentina's World Cup hero, who had just moved from Benfica to England a few weeks ago. Adeyemi simply overran him, didn't linger long with Enzo Fernández and Adeyemi also overran goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga. He switched from Athletic Bilbao to Stamford Bridge in 2018 for an incredible 80 million euros and was only in goal because his competitor, Edouard Mendy, just couldn't get on his feet.

"When Chelsea spent €120m on Enzo Fernández it certainly wasn't because of his ability as a one-man left-over defence," commented The Independent. "There was the most expensive signing an English club has ever made. And there was Karim Adeyemi, who swept past him, perhaps the next example of the shrewd selection that Dortmund has been indelibly associated with for years." It was not foreseeable that such words about Borussia Dortmund and Adeyemi would be written again this season. When BVB was nagging its way through a vale of tears in autumn 2022, the summer newcomer was a main target of criticism.

At the time, there was little to suggest that the 21-year-old would feel at home again in the Westfalenstadion. What "The Independent" now describes as "clever personnel policy" was also brought close to the next million flops at this point. About a month ago you could read about "salary giants and performance dwarfs". But what was valid back then suddenly no longer counts.

It wasn't wrong though. Because things have changed too much. The transfer of 30 million euros may be a "wise" investment from an English point of view, but from Dortmund's point of view it is associated with a greater risk. A risk from which it was not foreseeable in January that it would be sensibly taken. Up until then, the native of Munich had been too much of an individualist.

It is now suddenly a risk that is slowly paying off, and not only with this run. Adeyemi is transformed. Not only does he use his pace up front, he works deep back and rewards himself and his side with goals like this 1-0 win over Chelsea. "It was just speed," said 19-year-old BVB captain Jude Bellingham on BT Sports. "There are just few players who can stop him. He didn't have an easy start with us, didn't really get into the season and now he's flying. It's great because he's a huge help to the team."

team against individuals. Sacrifice against headless running. Those were the themes of this first round of 16 between BVB and Chelsea. "It was a difficult game, in the end with a lucky win for us, I would say. But what we did as a team was a fight," said Emre Can, who has also been unrecognizable since the Bundesliga restarted. He was the second big BVB hero that evening. His save after a shot by Kalidou Koulibaly in the 78th minute saved BVB from equalizing.

After a first half dominated by Julian Brandt on the one hand and João Félix on the other, Chelsea invested more in the offensive in the second 45 minutes. They kept pushing BVB against the goal in front of the south stand. But the yellow wall kept pushing the ball out of the danger zone with all their might. Before the game, her choreography not only impressed the Chelsea owner Todd Boehly who had traveled to the venue, who enthusiastically took pictures and possibly wondered why he had signed Chelsea and not this club.

The South Stand impressed Boehly and the whole world. And didn't want to let that evening go by when the Blues pushed for the goal with all their might in the second half and ran towards the south stand. Of course, the yellow wall did not clear the ball from the line, but Emre Can. And of course the Yellow Wall didn't keep the zero otherwise, but Gregor Kobel, who has long since grown into one of the strongest goalkeepers in Europe. And yet the fans in the south stand kept the ball out of the goal. "They're our 12th man out there. They intimidate opponents. We can take advantage of that and turn it into an atmosphere that makes it difficult for any opponent," said Bellingham.

Adeyemi, Can and Brandt, who has been playing in impressive form for weeks, are three of the unlikely protagonists of Dortmund's upswing, which aging heroes like Marco Reus and Mats Hummels are currently chasing from the bench. "The fighting performance, the commitment, the cohesion - this symbol, as Can clarifies once again, was outstandingly good," said sports director Sebastian Kehl and spoke of the right "mentality" that actually went from the biggest enemy to the biggest enemy in Dortmund within a month has become greatest friend. Mentality that could even be observed in the formation of the pack after a foul by mentality transfer Julian Ryerson in the final minutes of the game, when the frustrated Chelsea bench had to act wildly gesticulating against a majority of Dortmund players. That wasn't always the case at BVB either.

Seven games, seven wins. The balance sheet of the ball game club in 2023 could not be better. Only FC Barcelona and Union Berlin have not lost their feathers so far this calendar year. On Sunday, the Dortmunders expect the melancholy crisis club Hertha BSC (5.30 p.m. / DAZN and in the ntv.de live ticker). Then they can take a deep breath. But they will have to deliver again and keep the three points at home in the Westfalenstadion. Because as wonderful as the balance sheet reads up to this point, so far it has only been able to make you forget the disappointing start to the season.

However, unlike so often before, BVB now also has options from the bank and can rotate through without losing much in quality. "We just hope that it's not just a knot that burst, but that it's a consistent performance from him. Because then he will help us achieve our goals," said Terzic of the goalscorer Adeyemi. A statement that can be transferred one-to-one to the entire squad. Also, the first win against an English side since 2016 will remain a worthless statistic if it cannot be confirmed at Stamford Bridge in three weeks. However, as long as the Dortmunders have such worries about the future, they are on the right track. "There were also a lot of good things today, the best thing is probably the result," said Terzic and did not appear to overestimate this hard-fought victory.